Rock Star: I Feel I’m Going to Jail for Downloading Torrents
Written by enigmax on July 26, 2007Some people admit to using BitTorrent to obtain the occasional movie. However, it’s very rare for a rock star to confess that they are serial movie and TV show downloader – and then worry that they are going to jail for it. We’re happy to put her mind at rest.
Born March 18 1976, Marnie Stern is an American singer-songwriter and a great guitarist. In 2007 she launched her debut album ‘In Advance of the Broken Arm‘ which the New York Times called “the year’s most exciting rock ‘n’ roll album”.
During an interview with Pitchfork Media this week, she tells us about her favorite song (The Who’s “Baba O’Riley”), her most recent favorite book (The Listening Book) and even her favorite ringtone.
But Marnie is troubled. Marnie is troubled because she thinks she’s going to jail. What could a rock star have done to deserve this? Smashing up a hotel room? Drugs? Driving under the influence?
….try ‘downloading movies using BitTorrent’. That’s right; Marnie is a secret BitTorrent user.
When asked about the last great movie she saw, she responded “Since I’ve been here I have downloaded…I mean I feel I’m going to jail– well, I discovered the torrent– but I feel I’ve downloaded, I would say, honestly 40 or 50 movies, which I hear isn’t that bad, you know, for jail. But I mean, because I’ve pretty much been staying in the studio and a little bit with Zach [Hill], I have all of this time to just sit….”
Don’t worry Marnie! Downloading (or even uploading) movies in the United States is a civil issue (as long as you stay away from still-in-theater movies and pre-air TV shows), so you can relax – you won’t be going to jail for it. In the unlikely event that you’re caught in the act, you might get a notice from your Internet Service Provider demanding that you don’t do it again. In reality, this is usually as far as things go.
When asked about her favorite TV show, Marnie comes back to BitTorrent. “House! Now let me tell you, I missed three of the episodes– hello torrent! You just download them right away.”
Maybe Marnie will be automating everything in future after reading one of our guides.
Previously: Uploader Slips Harry Potter Spoilers into “Evan Almighty” DVDrip
Next: TorrentPod Episode 41
12 Responses
Yea, it sucks when you miss an episode. LOL
40 to 50 movies and she’s afraid of jailtime ?
OMG,
how should i feel about over 2000 dvd rips, countless tv eps and ,lets not forget, tens of thousands of music tracks ?
Should i perform harakiri right away ?
Give me a break.
Pirating is a way of life for me now.
No turning back.
:)
Yep
My ‘friend’ was working out that his
torrent costs would be in the tens of thousands.
Impressive.
some people get paranoid about anything lol!! I can’t believe how mainstream bittorrent is getting- i have mixed feelings about this, good as there will be more seeders (hopefully) bad- as it brings renewed interest in to this thing of ours from the undesirables (you know who you are)
Well things in Portugal aren’t looking to good. Police have raided and closed some of the biggest trackers in the country so I don’t know what the future has in store for us.
[quote comment="137599"]Well things in Portugal aren’t looking to good. Police have raided and closed some of the biggest trackers in the country so I don’t know what the future has in store for us.[/quote]
If you have any links or information we would be very happy to hear about it. thanks
Together we stand, divided we fall.
Don’t let them rats deprive us of our right to share what we love.
Not everybody is a millionaire, they want us to pay for every measly little thing they get already paid for!!!!!
Sick new world.
I appreciate it when famous people tell the media that they use illegal p2p :)
Try living in belgium.. 10gb download limit.
“That’s right; Marnie is a secret BitTorrent user.”
Clearly not secret :O
@ others
http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=8320
Bottom line, no customers = no business
Good stuff! This is the kind of thing us pirates (arr?) needs – positive public acknowledgements of our way of thinking, preferably from well-known people.
I know for a fact that a lot of people in the TV business (I can’t really speak for other businesses, don’t have much contacts there) do not view piracy (especially torrent distribution of TV content) as a bad thing, and would rather have a paradigm shift in the way that the broadcast system works than litigation against those who “facilitate piracy”. Unfortunately, the administrative branches do not agree – big business will ALWAYS resist change.
- SantaBJ
#EZTV admin
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